Judge refuses to delay trial of Walker aide

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MILWAUKEE - A judge says he will not delay the trial of a former Walker aide in Milwaukee County charged with doing campaign work on taxpayers’ time.

43-year-old Kelly Rindfleisch is still scheduled to go on trial October 15th, while her lawyer awaits rulings on a couple of matters. Defense attorney Franklyn Gimbel has asked a state Appeals Court to remove Rindfleisch’s personal e-mails from the evidence against her. Prosecutors obtained the e-mails, and Gimbel says they violate her privacy. But the trial judge, David Hansher, disagreed.

Also, Gimbel is still trying to get the charges dropped because of an immunity deal Rindfleisch made a decade ago in the state Legislature’s caucus scandal. Rindfleisch was a legislative aide at the time, and prosecutors say her experience proves that she knew it was against the law to do campaign work on taxpayers’ time. She’s charged with four felony counts of misconduct in public office. She was Walker’s deputy chief-of-staff in Milwaukee County when she allegedly spent work time campaigning for Republicans – mainly Brett Davis’s failed campaign for lieutenant governor.

Tags: news, wisconsin, courts, politics